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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Every Tuesday you will find either Vice/Versa or Midnight Snack posted here at 12:01 a.m.

I have been heartened by the initial participation in "Vice/Versa." One of these weeks you will see "Midnight Snack" and a photo.

Please, however, when you link your own writing, do others who link the courtesy of visiting their links as well. It truly is such a small group this is very possible. Don't just 'link and run.' And if someone visits your blog, please visit theirs in return; as we are all about community and reciprocity here.

For this week's “Vice/Versa” two random words will be posted along with their polar opposites (Otherwise known as antonyms). Write something using all four words. It can be any form of writing; poetry, prose, short stories or whatever else.

This week's

Vice Versa

Write poetry or prose using all four words. It can be any form of poetry or prose. Post your related scribbling and leave a comment. (We love comments too.) Then enjoy the writings of others who post here and see how they differ from you.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Do you have a poem you would like to share? Something that you just felt inspired to write and want others to read. Perhaps it’s a poem that didn’t get as much exposure on your blog as you would have liked. Maybe it’s a poem that you wrote a long time ago that you would like people to revisit. That’s what this section of Poets United is for.

Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to anything you want us to read, anything at all related to poetry or prose found on your own poetry blogs. It will remain open all week so that you can show us your writings and thoughts. You can post a link weekly should you choose to do so. What poetry you put here is up to you so don't be afraid to share with us!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 1 poem per week.

2. Please visit several other poems linked here when you link to yours. Please don't just link and run, waiting for others to visit you.

Friday, July 27, 2012

The old house felt unfriendly,
offering no apologies for the undressed rooms
and the stained wallpaper.
Or for sharing their familiarity
with others who might come anytime.
This had never been my home.
"They moved," the neighbours said, "a month ago."
And I repeated it to an overcoat
hanging behind the door.

That night I sheltered
in the empty house tucked into myself
like an abandoned dog —
not caring for the advances people made;
wrapped in an overcoat smelling of tobacco and grown ups.
This was my father's smell, blanket warm and coarse.
Next day I watched an old lady crying
and demolition workers putting back the sky.

There are too many RIPs in this column lately! It's the age I am, of course. People I have known are getting old (like me) and dying. Australian poet Max Williams, who died a week ago, was first published with three other poets in a book called Poets from Prisonedited by poet Rodney Hall, who had conducted workshops in the prison they were in. They were all excellent poets. Max's work seemed to me the most beautiful, powerful and moving of all. I was not alone in that.

He came out of prison soon afterwards and never went back in. I met him in 1980 at the Adelaide Writers' Festival. A mob of us from Melbourne and Sydney were staying at Kate Llewellyn's house. Max was there with his then partner Dianne Bates, andSusan Hampton introduced us. On hearing his name, I just stared, and Susan said, 'Yes, THE Max Williams'.

Completely uncool, I blurted out, 'I love your poetry!'

My then husband, Bill Nissen and I became friends with Max and Dianne. We and our kids stayed with them a few times. They were occasions of great hospitality and great conversations. My son David (now in his forties) who was visiting me when I learned of Max's death, remembers them well, and Dianne's daughter Claire who was also a kid at the time.

He and Dianne parted; so did Bill and I. We lost touch. I remember him with great affection and respect and I'm sad to learn of his death.

Max was hard-working, a knowledgeable and interesting conversationalist, and a man of great tenderness, as well as the toughness born of a difficult early life. He was good at seeing through bullshit, and he loved the outdoors.

I'm angry that I no longer have Poets from Prison nor his autobiography, Dingo. Someone's nicked them, and they aren't readily replaceable. However we can still get his book, The Unforgiving Poem, from Abe Books, Amazon or Barnes and Noble. If you're interested, there is an interview here in which he also reads from a number of his poems.

Steven Matthews, writing in The Times Literary Supplement in 2001, says of The Unforgiving Poem:
"These brief lyrics offer a distinctive and reticent metaphysics which set the work deliberately apart from that of his Australian contemporaries...These are remarkable poems which convey a lot of intractable matter with an ease and brilliance which belie their apparent modesty."

RIP Max, you were one of a kind.

Poems and photos used in ‘I Wish I’d Written
This’ remain the property of the copyright holders (usually their authors).

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Today, I thought I would share a poem by Theodore Roethke. He is a great sound poet! Yes, prompt #107 is Sound!

Big Wind

Where were the greenhouses going,
Lunging into the lashing
Wind driving water
So far down the river
All the faucets stopped?—
So we drained the manure-machine
For the steam plant,
Pumping the stale mixture
Into the rusty boilers,
Watching the pressure gauge
Waver over to red,
As the seams hissed
And the live steam
Drove to the far
End of the rose-house,
Where the worst wind was,
Creaking the cypress window-frames,
Cracking so much thin glass
We stayed all night,
Stuffing the holes with burlap;
But she rode it out,
That old rose-house,
She hove into the teeth of it,
The core and pith of that ugly storm,
Ploughing with her stiff prow,
Bucking into the wind-waves
That broke over the whole of her,
Flailing her sides with spray,
Flinging long strings of wet across the roof-top,
Finally veering, wearing themselves out, merely
Whistling thinly under the wind-vents;
She sailed until the calm morning,
Carrying her full cargo of roses.

What first comes to mind when you think of sound? Perhaps laughter, rain, waves pounding on the beach, a thunderstorm, wind chimes, a bubbling brook, popcorn popping, music or birds singing...

I want you to pen a poem that shares one of your favorite sounds. YOU can use one from my list, but there are so many more to choose from. Or you could go the Simon & Garfunkel route, the Sounds of Silence. I look forward to hearing your poems ;D

If you have a prompt idea (even a Music or Film inspired one) that you would like to suggest or share with us please send it to poetsunited@ymail.com . We keep a folder set aside with all your suggestions and just might use it one day.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Kids, today we're visiting a poet I have long been curious about, Ms. Shawnacy Kiker at Guts and Juice. Shawnacy describes herself as a "slightly reluctant member of the human race." She and her "mighty clan" reside in Southern California. I have long been drawn by her wonderful poetry, and wanted a peek into what I knew would be an interesting life story. Get ready to be entertained, kids. She does not disappoint!

Poets United: Shawnacy, you are a very talented girl. Did
you, like so many other gifted poets, write as a child? When did you first know
you are a writer?

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Every Tuesday you will find either Vice/Versa or Midnight Snack posted here at 12:01 a.m. These were features that had been part of Poets United for a short time in the past. We have reinstated them, and we are heartened by the participation. Thank you.

One of these weeks you will see "Midnight Snack" and a photo. I promise.

Please, however, when you link your own writing, do others who link the courtesy of visiting their links as well. It truly is such a small group this is very possible. Don't just 'link and run.' And if someone visits your blog, please visit theirs in return; as we are all about community and reciprocity here.

For this week's “Vice/Versa” two random words will be posted along with their polar opposites (Otherwise known as antonyms). Write something using all four words. It can be any form of writing; poetry, prose, short stories or whatever else.

This week's

Vice Versa

Write poetry or prose using all four words. It can be any form of poetry or prose. Post your related scribbling and leave a comment. (We love comments too.) Then enjoy the writings of others who post here and see how they differ from you.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Do you have a poem you would like to share? Something that you just felt inspired to write and want others to read. Perhaps it’s a poem that didn’t get as much exposure on your blog as you would have liked. Maybe it’s a poem that you wrote a long time ago that you would like people to revisit. That’s what this section of Poets United is for.

Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to anything you want us to read, anything at all related to poetry or prose found on your own poetry blogs. It will remain open all week so that you can show us your writings and thoughts. You can post one link weekly should you choose to do so. What poetry you put here is up to you so don't be afraid to share with us!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. You can link one poem a week.

2. Please visit several other poems linked here when you link to yours. Please don't just link and run, waiting for others to visit you.

Friday, July 20, 2012

They lean against the cooling car, backs pressed
Upon the dusts of a brown continent,
And watch the sun, now Westward of their West,
Fall to the ocean. Where it led they went.

Kansas to California. Day by day
They travelled emptier of the things they knew.
They improvised new habits on the way,
But lost the occasions, and then lost them too.

One night, no one and nowhere, she had woken
To resin-smell and to the firs' slight sound,
And through their sleeping-bag had felt the broken
Tight-knotted surfaces of the naked ground.

Only his lean quiet body cupping hers
Kept her from it, the extreme chill. By degrees
She fell asleep. Around them in the firs
The wind probed, tiding through forked estuaries.

And now their skin is caked with road, the grime
Merely reflecting sunlight as it fails.
They leave their clothes among the rocks they climb,
Blunt leaves of iceplant nuzzle at their soles.

Now they stand chin-deep in the sway of ocean,
Firm West, two stringy bodies face to face,
And come, together, in the water's motion,
The full caught pause of their embrace.

I fell in love with this poem when I first came across it about three decades ago in the book Moly. I fell in love with Gunn's beautiful use of language and the feeling he created with it. Though his life was reputedly turbulent, in his poems he was very good at evoking tranquility. For a few years I bought every new book he produced. They did not disappoint.

I thought of Gunn as an English poet, contemporary with Ted Hughes, as indeed he was — but I have since learned that he moved to America long before I discovered his work, and is known as an Anglo-American poet. He settled in San Francisco, worked as an academic, 'came out' as gay, and experimented with drugs. Described as serious and professional by day, he enjoyed an adventurous night life. Similar contradictions might be seen in his poetry, which moved between metrical and free verse; I just find it all beautiful.

He published many volumes of poetry and some essays, and won a number of awards and prizes. His most famous poetry collection, The Man with Night Sweats (1962) dealt with AIDS. He remained HIV negative himself. At 74, still a party animal, he died from substance abuse. Despite this lifestyle, he had an extraordinarily long relationship — 52 years — with his partner Mike Kitay. His student, poet Steve Silberman, says, 'He represented both the best virtues of civilization and the inscrutable power of staying a wild animal.'

This quote comes from part one of a detailed obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle (Don't forget to read part two as well.) Or you might like this briefer but more literary biography.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Today, we are going to try something new. I would like to feature a different artist once a month. When I say art, it will be different mediums, sometimes paint, mixed media, and other mediums. I would like to introduce you to, Fabiola D'Antuono. Fabiola runs a shop on Etsy, called ArchivioGotico Postcards & Garlands. She lives in Italian and is a visual artist. She gathers images and turns them into postcards n' garlands. Her view is poetic. She strings beautiful images into garlands and makes postcards, I think could inspire poetry. Her themes vary, but all have visual stunning elements together weave a story. Her art is aesthetically pleasing~

Ella: Could you tell us how your shop came to be?

Fabiola: I am by nature a paper-sniffer. Shoving my nose into a freshly printed book is a heart-lifting experience. I am also a vintage lover. So I thought “why not combine these two passions”? This is how my shop began. What wonderful objects one can create with paper and a bit of string or ribbon!

Her visually cut-outs are created by what inspires her a story, poem or song. She was kind enough to share some of her postcards with us today, for our prompt #106 Carnival.

It captures the darkness of fun fairs. I remember the fairs I went to. It was November 5th and there were bonfires and goldfish to win, candyfloss and that dark November sadness."

Ella: Fabiola, how beautiful, what a lovely memory! I love how you visual collect and gather images to express memories. Your images help us remember facets of our lives, like magic strings they evoke an emotion, a memory. These postcards make me crave Cotton Candy(Candyfloss) and a ride on the Ferris Wheel. I love the symbols you select for your garlands, they have an universal appeal. Could you share a bit more about your creative process?

Fabiola: "When you read a book or a poem or listen to a song, it's not just reading and listening. There's a lot of "visual activity". In your imagination, it's not just the words and the music, but all the images that those words and music inspire you. Everyone does that(or I suppose they do). When you read a story, you imagine what the characters look like, where they live and what the weather is like. That's what happens with my postcards and garlands, I add the 'visual' part. My part of course, because everyone has their own interpretation. There is also a decorative intent behind the garlands and postcards. I choose images or sequences of images, because they 'look nice' or give a certain atmosphere. This is usually vintage or Autumn inspired, because I feel at home there!"

Ella: Thank you for sharing, this was beautiful. I love the view Autumn conjures up and I love that you feel it is your home! (This could be a great prompt, which season feels like home) ;D Fab's art work captures an expressive thought. All summed up with paper symbols to achieve an emotion, a visual poem. Do you have a favorite poem

I love a lot of song lyrics too and my favourite is Robyn Hitchcock's I Often Dream of Trains and Nick Haefner's Don't Be Late (unfortunately, Nick Haefner's song is probably known by me and 100 other people, which is a pity because it's beautiful and the lyrics are inspiring and full of mystery and imagination!)"

Ella: Thank you Fabiola, for sharing your art and inspired thoughts with us. It was a pleasure to get to know you n' your process better!

Fabiola: Grazie mille(Thank you a lot) :D

Be sure to stop by and check out other offerings by Fabiola, isn't she Fabulous! :D

I would like you to pen a poem inspired by our prompt #106 Carnival. Fab's technique of stringing symbols and her wonderful postcards perhaps will conjure up your memories of a day at the carnival.

If you have a prompt idea (even a Music or Film inspired one) that you would like to suggest or share with us please send it to poetsunited@ymail.com . We keep a folder set aside with all your suggestions and just might use it one day.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Kids, as you know, I am so drawn to the humble, unsung heroes of the world, who quietly do the work of living as if it's no big deal, even when their load would topple most of us. Myrna Rosa is such a one. For years, she cared for her mother and her mother-in-law, and now views that time as a gift. Myrna writes at My Daily Spirit: Musings That Nourish the Soul . The title alone alerts us that she is someone on The Path. I so admire her, and asked her if I could shine a little light her way, so you could admire her, too. Gather ' round, kids. We're in her beautiful back yard in the desert, and it's sundown. This is a house where Love dwells. It has a golden glow.

Poets United:Myrna, would you tell us a little bit about
yourself? Where you were born, and grew up, where “home” is for you now?

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Every Tuesday you will find either Vice/Versa or Midnight Snack posted here at 12:01 a.m. These were features that had been part of Poets United for a short time in the past. We have reinstated them, and they seem to be maintaining interest; so we will continue.

One of these weeks you will see "Midnight Snack" and a photo. I promise.

Please, however, when you link your own writing, do others who link the courtesy of visiting their links as well. It truly is such a small group this is very possible. Don't just 'link and run.' And if someone visits your blog, please visit theirs in return; as we are all about community and reciprocity here.

For this week's “Vice/Versa” two random words will be posted along with their polar opposites (Otherwise known as antonyms). Write something using all four words. It can be any form of writing; poetry, prose, short stories or whatever else.

This week's

Vice Versa

Write poetry or prose using all four words. It can be any form of poetry or prose. Post your related scribbling and leave a comment. (We love comments too.) Then enjoy the writings of others who post here and see how they differ from you.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Do you have a poem you would like to share? Something that you just felt inspired to write and want others to read. Perhaps it’s a poem that didn’t get as much exposure on your blog as you would have liked. Maybe it’s a poem that you wrote a long time ago that you would like people to revisit. That’s what this section of Poets United is for.

Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to a poem you want us to read, anything at all related to poetry or prose found on your own poetry blogs. It will remain open all week so that you can show us your writings and thoughts. You can post a link weekly should you choose to do so. What poetry you put here is up to you so don't be afraid to share with us!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. You can link one poem per week.

2. Please visit several other poems linked here when you link to yours. Please don't just link and run, waiting for others to visit you.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Sometimes from sorrow, for no reason,
you sing. For no reason, you accept
the way of being lost, cutting loose
from all else and electing a world
where you go where you want to.

Arbitrary, a sound comes, a reminder
that a steady center is holding
all else. If you listen, that sound
will tell you where it is and you
can slide your way past trouble.

Certain twisted monsters
always bar the path - but that's when
you get going best, glad to be lost,
learning how real it is
here on earth, again and again.

I expect that American readers will probably be aware of William Stafford, but I have only just found out about him. I'm currently doing an e-course run by Fiona Robyn, called Writing and Spiritual Practice. In a recent email to course participants, Fiona quoted this poem in full. It spoke to my heart.

I did some research online and discovered that Stafford was a poet of the ordinary, finding the splendour in it and showing it to us in new ways. He was also prolific, the author of 57 volumes of poetry — despite a late start, with his first major collection published when he was 48.

He was an academic, a translator, a conscientious objector, a friend of Robert Bly and James Dickey ... all of which you can find out online as I did.

"We know what bliss is, even if we can't define it. Because bliss is a spiritual benediction, unbound by limits of language, the best that even sublime writers can do, such as New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield, is to describe its sensations. In her stunning short story, "Bliss", we are privy to Bertha Young's unexplained sensuous seizure of ecstasy. Bertha discovers that bliss is the intense awareness of the sensuous in the ordinary, an erotic echo of the everyday. Katherine writes how Bertha felt:

"What can you do," Bertha Young wondered, "if...turning the corner of your own street you are overcome, suddenly by a feeling of bliss~absolute bliss!~as though you'd suddenly swallowed a bright piece of that late afternoon sun and it burned in your bosom, sending out a shower of sparks into every particle, into every finger and toe?"

I want you to pen a poem, that reveals bliss. You can make it generic or personal, whatever excites your muse. I look forward to reading your sparks of insight, on what makes your ordinary, extraordinary!

"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls. "Joseph Campbell

"Live with integrity, respect the rights of other people, and follow your own bliss."Nathaniel Branden

"Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real."Deepak Chopra

If you have a prompt idea (even a Music or Film inspired one) that you would like to suggest or share with us please send it to poetsunited@ymail.com . We keep a folder set aside with all your suggestions and just might use it one day.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Kids, I have one of my favorite kind of stories for you today. I deeply admire people who transcend difficult life circumstances with grace, who rise to the challenge and with good hearts turn their situations into opportunities to raise awareness, and to help others. Our community poet Diane Belleville and her husband Russ are two such admirable human beings. Diane writes at La Vita Boca. We are joining the poet in her beautiful garden. Pull your chairs up close, pour some lemonade, and get ready to chat with someone special.

Poets United: Diane, So nice to finally be speaking with you. Would you paint us a picture of what your life looks like these days?

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Every Tuesday you will find either Vice/Versa or Midnight Snack posted here at 12:01 a.m. These were features that had been part of Poets United for a short time in the past. We are reinistating them to see if there is any amount of interest.

I have been heartened by the initial participation in "Vice/Versa." One of these weeks you will see "Midnight Snack" and a photo. I promise.

Please, however, when you link your own writing, do others who link the courtesy of visiting their links as well. It truly is such a small group this is very possible. Don't just 'link and run.' And if someone visits your blog, please visit theirs in return; as we are all about community and reciprocity here.

For this week's “Vice/Versa” two random words will be posted along with their polar opposites (Otherwise known as antonyms). Write something using all four words. It can be any form of writing; poetry, prose, short stories or whatever else.

This week's

Vice Versa

Write poetry or prose using all four words. It can be any form of poetry or prose. Post your related scribbling and leave a comment. (We love comments too.) Then enjoy the writings of others who post here and see how they differ from you.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Do you have a poem you would like to share? Something that you just felt inspired to write and want others to read. Perhaps it’s a poem that didn’t get as much exposure on your blog as you would have liked. Maybe it’s a poem that you wrote a long time ago that you would like people to revisit. That’s what this section of Poets United is for.

I would also like to advise that it is not a place to link one's own prompt site. It is a place to link an individual poem that you would like to share and have comments on.

If you post a link to your poem, please (in the spirit of community) visit other poets who link. Please just do not drop your link and wait for others to visit you without any intention of visiting other poets. Poets United has noticed that in the past weeks many have done this. If you are a person who posts early, come back a few hours later and respond to some who posted later. If you are a person who posts later, how about responding to those who posted before you. If someone responds to your poem and you hadn't visited them, why not make a new friend and visit their blog. What I am suggesting is that for this community to work, we all need to participate and reciprocate as best we can. If you don't have time or interest in visiting other blogs a particular week, perhaps it is better if you consider sitting the week out. (We all go through busy times like that, and that is understandable.)

Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to a poem in your own poetry blog. It will remain open all week so that you can show us your writings and thoughts. You can post one link weekly should you chose to do so. What poetry you put here is up to you so don't be afraid to share with us!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. Link only one poem per week.

2. Please visit several other poems linked here when you link to yours. Please don't just link and run, waiting for others to visit you.

If you have a poetry blog and have been ACTIVE by posting (and responding to others) on Poetry Pantry, or Verse First (and linking back to us) and wish to be added to this blogroll then click the link below so we can take a look at your blog......